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Was Trump right to declare 'national emergency' for border wall?

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Across the street from the United States Capitol, people holding a banner are silhouetted by the sun as they join others from organizations from across the United States such as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) at Upper Senate Park ... more >

Jim Clifton, the CEO of Gallup, has backtracked on claims he publicly made about the job numbers under President Obama being a “big lie,” saying he was concerned that his statement might cause him to “suddenly disappear” due to foul play.

“I think that the number that comes out of [the Bureau of Labor Statistics] and the Department of Labor is very, very accurate,” he said during an interview on CNBC. “I need to make that very, very clear so that I don’t suddenly disappear. I need to make it home tonight.”

Mr. Clifton recently labeled the federal numbers a “big lie,” and said the government was skipping out on counting Americans who technically should be regarded as unemployed — and that the availability of full-time jobs for adults in the nation is actually “the worst it’s been in 30 years,” Newsmax reported.

His rhetoric countered what President Obama said during his State of the Union speech on Jan. 20.

Mr. Obama said then: “Our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis,” Newsmax reported.